A Tribute to Alfred Hitchcock's 'Psycho' 50th Anniversary by Joe Robinett Discussion
‘Psycho’ in Winnemucca
DANIELLE SWITALSKI elkodaily.com | Posted: Thursday, October 21, 2010 10:09 am Joe Robinett has created a facade of the movie set of Alfred Hitchcock’s famous thriller, “Psycho.” On Halloween night, Robinett will dress up as Norman Bates’ mother while he gree...ts trick-or-treaters. WIN...NEMUCCA — Whether you’re a movie fanatic or not, most everyone remembers the infamous shower scene and the haunting home of Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock’s thriller, “Psycho.”
If residents of Winnemucca or passersby on West Haskell Street are not familiar with the well-known psychological thriller, they soon will be as Winnemucca resident Joe Robinett has constructed a replica of the Victorian-style home used for filming the original movie.
The replica, which shows the front view of the home, has been constructed to resemble the movie set used for Psycho at Universal Studios in southern California.
“It’s basically the facade,” Robinett said.
He finished construction of his facade on Oct. 2.
After a trip to Universal Studios to study the original movie set used for filming, Robinett said he discovered that only two walls of the movie set were actually made for the film.
“[The house] was only built for what you would see and the rest was filmed on a sound stage. Over time they used that same house for other TV shows and movies and slowly added the other walls over the years,” Robinett said.
The parts of the home used for filming were the parts that Robinett recreated with his facade.
Robinett, who works as an industrial operator as well as in construction, has always thought of Halloween as his favorite holiday. On top of that, he has always wanted to build a haunted house.
Two years ago, Robinett heard this year marks the 50th anniversary of the famous thriller. The pieces quickly fell into place.
“I heard Psycho would be turning 50 and I thought ‘that’s it, that’s the thing I’m looking for,’” Robinett said.
Although he had the idea for his first Halloween project, Robinett wanted to do it right.
That’s when he decided to take a trip to Universal Studios and study the original Hollywood facade used for the film. Robinett measured every inch of the “Psycho” home, from the windows to the outside deck, and matched the paint colors.
“I went as far as special effects and making it look like it’s lived in because that’s the whole idea,” Robinett said.
He said while visiting Universal Studios, he wanted to see the “movie magic” of how facades are created and learn about Hollywood secrets.
With his construction background, Robinett set to work. Although he was limited on space and had to scale the size of the project to fit the limited amount of land he was working with, the facade is a 60 percent replica of the one in California.
“I like thriller movies and Halloween, and I’m good with my hands, with a construction background and it was taking several interests and applying them together as one,” Robinett said.
On Halloween, trick or treaters will be in for a “Psycho” treat. The front door of the facade is fully functioning. During trick or treat hours, Robinett will dress up as Norman Bates’ mother to greet visitors.
He is expecting a large number of guests on Halloween, but said visitors should be careful of the traffic on Haskell Street.
As for the future of the facade, Robinett is not sure. He said some people in Winnemucca would like to keep it around as a tourist attraction, but he said he also would like to create different themed-models every other year during the Halloween season.
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